(Radio Iowa) – Gasoline prices in Iowa have surged 88-cents a gallon in the past month, and backers of biofuels say the blend with 15-percent ethanol helps consumers save money. Nick Bowdish, president and C-E-O of Siouxland Ethanol, says E-15 is a solution for higher pump prices.

“We’re American-made and all of our plants are actually sitting on fuel supplies that could be doing more work in serving the consumer,” Bowdish says, “but there’s an archaic fuel regulation that still to this day limits ethanol and gasoline at 10% for all motor vehicles.” Federal rules restrict E-15 sales from June through mid-September because of air-quality concerns, and Congress has failed to pass legislation approving its year-round use.

The U-S Senate Agriculture Committee heard testimony last week on ways to boost demand for farm products, and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley called for the approval of year-round E-15. Craig Brodersen says all the corn he raises on his farm in western Iowa gets sold to a local ethanol plant. “The E-15 helps the consumer. It really does,” Brodersen says. “You’re not buying it from a foreigner. You’re buying it from us.”

Geoff Cooper, president and C-E-O of the national Renewable Fuels Association, says oil companies successfully lobbied lawmakers to block year-round E-15, though a Congressional task force is still trying to work something out. Cooper says, “It would make a bad situation worse if Congress and the administration don’t get something done very quickly on E-15.”

Cooper says President Trump could issue emergency waivers allowing existing retailers to continue selling E-15 in the summer, a move he says could save drivers up to 50 cents a gallon. Triple-A says the statewide average price for gas is $3.33 a gallon, compared to $2.45 a month ago.